The Heart of the Clans
by Dapplefawn
Summary: Set in the time of the Power of Three series, a new clan is created to help ThunderClan with the prophecy. The clan, formed from cats from the other clans, must face internal and external problems to help not only ThunderClan, but their own clan survive.
1. Prologue

The Heart of the Clans

Prologue

Sagewhisker was jerked out of her dream of chasing rabbits. Sighing softly, she turned to face the StarClan cat she knew was awaiting her. There were far more than she expected. Usually only Spottedleaf, or maybe Bluestar would appear to her. They were both present, but many other starry-furred cats were clustered around them. Some weren't even from ThunderClan!

Looking around, she noticed that all the clan leaders and medicine cats were also there. What was going on?

"Now that you've all joined us," Bluestar said, "we will begin. There have been four clans in this forest for a very long time. That will have to change." A chorus of confused muttering broke out among the leaders and medicine cats. Sagewhisker just waited, stunned.

Bluestar continued. "A time is coming where a new clan will be needed to balance out the rest. Their territory will be in the center of all of yours. We will show you the borders. The cats shall be drawn from all the clans. Any cat who wishes to join will be allowed. No cat will be forced. One of your medicine cats will be needed to join the new clan."

She paused and examined the assembled cats as she waited for one of the medicine cats to volunteer. There was silence. All the dreaming cats were completely still, as if even the slightest rustling could be taken as confirmation that they wanted to join this new clan. Bluestar just sighed.

"I know it is difficult for you. You remember there always being four clans, and we did just spring this on you with no warning. But one medicine cat must join before we leave here tonight." More silence.

"I will join." Every cat's head swiveled towards Sagewhisker, looks of surprise and relief mingled on their faces. Sagewhisker herself was shocked that she had just uttered those three soft words. It would be hard leaving her clan, but they had another medicine cat, and they would be fine without her. She doubted any other medicine cat would willingly volunteer. Besides, maybe a fresh start would be a good thing.

"Are you sure, Sagewhisker?" Firestar asked quietly from beside her. "I will not force you to stay or go-it is your choice. But we will miss you."

Sagewhisker felt tears misting her eyes, and blinked them away quickly before nodding. Firestar studied her for a moment and dipped his head in acknowledgement.

"Very well," Bluestar announced. "The rest of you can go now. Make sure you tell your clans what has happened here, and give them the opportunity to join. Sagewhisker, come with me."

As the living cats faded from the forest, Sagewhisker followed Bluestar and Spottedleaf away from the other StarClan cats.

"Do not think this will be easy," Spottedleaf said gently. "You will be starting out in leaffall, which will be hard enough. Not many cats will want to join you at first. Getting cats from all four clans to work together will be difficult. There will be fighting inside the clan, as well as from the other four. They might leave you alone for a little while, but when they realize how weak you are, they will attack. It will be extremely hard at first, but soon you will be the strongest clan. ThunderClan is going to be facing challenges soon, and the other clans will turn on them. Your clan must stand by them. Convince your new leader of this. Don't worry though, this clan will survive and flourish."

"And what is to be the clan's name?" Sagewhisker queried. There was a moment of silence before Bluestar spoke.

"HeartClan. It will be the heart of the forest and of the clans, and it is where all the clans will come together as one."

Sagewhisker dipped her head, and faded silently away.


	2. Whisperpaw

Chapter 1

Whisperkit could feel eyes staring at her jealously. Glancing over her shoulder, she saw Tigerlily give her an encouraging look as she tried to console Icekit and Puddlekit. They peered longingly towards HighRock. Puddlekit growled softly and lashed his tail with frustration as he glowered at their leader, and Icekit watched the proceedings with a sorrowful air. Whisperkit quickly turned away from Icekit's mournful countenance and Puddlekit's impatience and looked back towards Snowstar. She could feel two more sets of eyes boring into her back, but she didn't dare turn around to look at her parents and see their anger and disappointment.

"Silverkit, you are six moons old now, and able to receive your apprentice name. Do you promise to train hard and learn StarClan's noble code?"

Whisperkit's sister stared up at Snowstar.

"I do," she meowed confidently.

"Then from this day forward until you earn your warrior name, you will be known as Silverpaw. Fernblossom, I trust that you can shape Silverpaw into a brave and competent warrior. You will be Silverpaw's mentor, and I hope that you can pass your loyalty and gentleness down to her."

Fernblossom padded forward, excitement shining in her eyes, and touched noses with her new apprentice.

Whisperkit watched her sister. Silverkit-no Silver_paw_ now- would make a great apprentice and an even better warrior. She was always the brave and loyal one. She was Whisperkit's better half, and Whisperkit was glad that she was finally an apprentice.

Silence fell over the gathered cats, and for an agonizing moment, Whisperkit didn't know what had happened. She could feel herself flushing under her fur as she squeaked "I do". She was so relieved to have remembered to say the correct words, that she missed the rest of her ceremony as well. The next thing she knew, Sagewhisker was padding up to her. Whisperkit blinked at her uncertainly for a moment, before timidly touching her nose.

As the ceremony ended, the cats dispersed to congratulate the new apprentices. To congratulate Silverpaw actually. After all, she was the good one.

Sagewhisker headed over to congratulate Silverpaw, and Whisperpaw was left sitting alone. She met Silverpaw's eyes and gave her a small smile. She would talk to her sister later, when there weren't so many cats around.

Morningpaw slipped easily through the crowd gathered around Silverpaw and padded over to Whisperpaw.

"Congratulations! You'll make a great medicine cat!" Morningpaw purred. Whisperpaw smiled at her friend gratefully. Morningpaw was good at making everyone feel special and included. Everyone knew that her mother was grooming her to become leader after her. This led to some jealousy among the warriors and other apprentices, but they also acknowledged that Morningpaw would probably be a fantastic leader. She was already the star apprentice, even though her ceremony had only been half a moon ago. She had convinced the apprentices to give her and her sister Turtlepaw tips and training when they were still kits, and had already learned most of the basics. She somehow managed to use her apparent disadvantage of an extremely small stature to help her. The other apprentices walked warily around her-she had beaten most of them at least once.

Of course, no one dared challenge her right to future leadership because they all thought she had been chosen by StarClan. The pretty honey brown tipped Siamese had apparently used to talk to imaginary friends with names like Bluestar, Spottedleaf and Yellowfang. She had eventually stopped having conversations with air, and most cats had uneasily dismissed these incidents as imaginary. After all, StarClan didn't talk to kits. Did they?

Morningpaw smiled at Whisperpaw's apparent lack of response. Whisperpaw felt a surge of affection for the older apprentice. She was used to Whisperpaw's shyness, and unlike most other cats who scorned or ignored her for it, she would still try to induce her into conversation, and remained friendly.

Whisperpaw's heart sank as she watched her parents detach themselves from Silverpaw's side and move towards her. She glanced at Morningpaw.

"You'd better go," she said softly. Morningpaw followed her look and growled softly.

"One day I'm going to have a talk with them," she hissed. "Are you sure you don't want me to stay?"

Whisperpaw nodded. Morningpaw padded away a short distance, but Whisperpaw could tell she was paying close attention in case she needed to step in.

"Come with us," Squirrelhollow growled to her daughter. Whisperpaw meekly followed them out of camp, glancing towards Sagewhisker as she went. What would her new mentor think when she disappeared on her first day as an apprentice?

Her parents stopped in a small clearing.

"We are very disappointed in you," Smallcreek snarled. "We already had this discussion with you. I don't want any daughter of mine to be a worthless medicine cat. Your mother and I are great warriors. We want you to follow in our pawsteps. Your sister is, but you are stubborn. Now I'm stuck with a daughter who won't be able to help the clan."

"And you're much too timid," Squirrelhollow added coldly. "You would have shamed us and probably have made a useless warrior anyway, but we hoped you would get a tough mentor who could straighten you out. This reflects badly on us. Do you know how we'll be mocked? How everyone will wonder how two powerful fighters produced a kit that's afraid of her own shadow? How dare you!"

Whisperpaw stared at her paws silently, too afraid to look at her irate parents. They had a right to be angry of course. She had let down and embarrassed them. It was hardly their fault that she could barely bring herself to talk to anyone besides Silverpaw, or that even the thought of trying to fight scared her.

When she had only been a few moons old, she had seen a little brown mouse poking around camp. Whisperpaw had no idea why it would walk into a whole group of cats instead of hiding. No one else had seen it, and she was too shy to tell anyone. The mouse had scurried towards the edge of camp and into a hole, reemerging a short time later with another adult mouse and four mouse kits following. They had left the camp quickly. When other cats saw a mouse, they thought prey. When Whisperpaw saw a mouse, she thought family. The thought of destroying a family, even a family of prey, was too much for her. She had no desire to hunt. Even eating fresh kill made her cringe.

"Well?" demanded Squirrelhollow. "Say something!"

Whisperpaw sighed quietly. "I'm sorry."

"Sorry for what?" asked Smallcreek, his hard eyes glinting at her angrily.

She was silent for a moment, working up her courage to speak.

"For disappointing you, for not being brave or strong, for choosing to be a medicine cat, for not being the fighter you always wanted."

Her parents stared at her in surprise for a moment. _Probably because it's the most they've ever heard me say at one time_, Whisperpaw thought ruefully.

"Whisperpaw! Whisperpaw! Where is that cat? First day of her training and she's already slacking off. Whisperpaw! Where are you?"

All three cats turned towards the direction of Sagewhisker's voice. Squirrelhollow growled softly.

"We'll finish this later," she snapped. "Go find your mentor." Whisperpaw didn't need to be told twice. As soon as her mother finished speaking, she fled through the undergrowth toward the sound of the medicine cat's impatient yowls.

"I wanted to show you how to identify the herbs, but you went missing. Where have you been?" the brown and black tabby asked coldly. Her green eyes sparkled with exasperation and impatience. Whisperpaw flattened her ears uncomfortably. It seemed like everyone was mad at her today. Not that she didn't deserve it, of course.

Whisperpaw just shrugged, not wanting to implicate her parents in anything.

At that moment, Squirrelhollow and Smallcreek emerged from the surrounding forest and disappeared into the camp without even glancing at their daughter. Sagewhisker's cold gaze softened slightly.

"I see," she meowed. "Well, time's wasting. Let's head over to the medicine den and I'll start showing you some of the basics." The medicine cat turned and began walking briskly back towards the camp. Whisperpaw followed obediently.

As they entered camp, she could see her parents sharing tongues on the other side of camp. They pointedly ignored her. Whisperpaw flattened her ears. Despite Sagewhisker's friendly chatter about herbs and their uses, she suddenly felt small and alone. She hesitated for a moment, looking longingly towards her parents, before slipping into the medicine den behind her mentor.

_Why can't they love me?_


	3. Morningpaw

The Heart of the Clans

Chapter 2

Morningpaw anxiously watched the small gray cat follow her parents out of camp. She knew Whisperpaw better than anyone except Silverpaw, and even if she refused to tell her much about her relationship with her parents, she knew it was bad. Everyone knew, really. Squirrelhollow and Smallcreek didn't bother to hide their disdain for their timid daughter. Their snide remarks and angry lectures were common occurrences in the camp.

She knew how much it hurt Whisperpaw. Morningpaw herself had trouble sleeping, and was often up late at night. That was why she had seen Whisperpaw one night. The little kit had been sitting in the middle of camp, her head tilted towards the stars, as if she could reach them if she just stretched a little farther. And her eyes… From where Morningpaw was hidden in the shadows of the apprentice den she could just make out her friend's eyes. The pale blue orbs had been wells of despair; hurt and pain and loneliness glittering in their depths. Morningpaw could catch glimpses of anguish in her eyes every time her parents said something nasty. How _dare_ they hurt her even more when she already felt enough pain to fell full grown warriors?

Every time something went wrong, Whisperpaw blamed herself. She was constantly apologizing for things she didn't cause, didn't do even. She was always taking the blame for the actions of other cats. And she always thought she wasn't good enough. Morningpaw prided herself on being good at reading the emotions and characters of other cats, and she could see what Whisperpaw thought about herself. The medicine cat apprentice needed to get some self-esteem, and Morningpaw wanted to help her do it. If only her mouse-brained parents wouldn't keep coming around and ruining everything!

Morningpaw sighed and shook her head. There was only so much she could do for her friend. Only so much she could do until Whisperpaw decided to help herself.

Shaking herself out of her reverie, she padded over to the nursery. She had hated this place as a kit. She and Turtlepaw had always snuck out and wandered around the territory while the other kits covered for them. Snowstar hadn't spent much time in the nursery, so it wasn't too hard to escape detection.

Tigerlily and her sister turned towards her as they heard her approach.

"Hello Morningpaw. What are you doing here?" Tigerlily asked. Morningpaw smiled at Tigerlily and Moonlily. Rumor had it that the two sisters were so close that they had convinced Firestar to give them both the same suffix for their warrior names. Morningpaw thought it was strange they were so close since they were complete opposites. Tigerlily was fiercer and more assertive than her sister, and Moonlily was gentler and less fiery. Supposedly they were a force to be reckoned with when they fought together.

"I figured I'd watch Icekit and Puddlekit for you so you could get out of camp for a little while," Morningpaw answered. The tabby queen looked torn.

"Are you sure you can handle them? They're very energetic today," she fretted. Moonlily snorted softly.

"They'll be fine. Do you really think Morningpaw can't handle them?" she asked, amused. "Besides, it'll do them good to hang out with her again. They _are_ friends after all. And you should really get out of camp. You've been stuck in the nursery _forever_!"

Tigerlily grinned.

"You're right, as usual," she purred. "You two behave for Morningpaw, okay?"

Icekit and Puddlekit exchanged looks.

"Yeah, sure, whatever," Puddlekit muttered mutinously.

"That'll have to do," Tigerlily said dryly.

"Let's go already!" Moonlily interjected impatiently. "I want to go hunting!" The fluffy silver and white warrior nudged her sister affectionately. They glanced at each other, and then turned to Morningpaw.

"Thanks Morningpaw!" they chorused in unison before bounding out of the nursery and disappearing through the camp entrance.

Morningpaw turned to examine the kits. They would be apprenticed in a moon, but they already thought of themselves as apprentices. That, plus the fact that they and Morningpaw had been friends when they had all been in the nursery together, would make them resistant to listening to her orders. They regarded her suspiciously, as if she would try to boss them around. Morningpaw smiled to herself. _Well, I won't. It wouldn't do any good anyway. _

"What do you want to do?" she asked them cheerfully. They exchanged looks.

"You aren't going to order us around are you?" Icekit inquired.

"Nope," purred Morningpaw.

"Well I want to play warriors," Puddlekit announced. "You two can be ShadowClan and I'll be the brave HeartClan warrior that saves everyone!"

"No fair!" whined Icekit. "You always get to be the HeartClan warrior! Besides, that's getting boring. I want to listen to the elders' stories." Puddlekit opened his mouth to argue, but Morningpaw forestalled him.

"Compromise! How about we listen to the elders, but you get to pick the first story. Any one you want. Then Icekit can pick one and then I can pick one. Deal? You can always play warriors later."

Puddlekit grumbled and moaned, but conceded defeat. The two kits followed their older friend to the elders' den.

"What do you want?" Bramblethicket snapped, eyeing the intruders warily. Robinfeather and Rabbittail looked up from the prey they were sharing.

"Be nice Bramblethicket," Robinfeather mewed good-naturedly. "It's Morningpaw and those kits. It's been a long time since we've seen you around here, dear," she added to Morningpaw. The apprentice dropped her gaze to her paws.

"Sorry Robinfeather. It's just that Mapleleaf has been working me hard. It's not that I'm trying to keep away from you." Robinfeather smiled cheerfully.

"I know, little one. It's alright. We were apprentices at one time too. We know how much work it is. What is it you three wanted?"

Morningpaw bristled at the nickname "little one", but shook it off quickly. Robinfeather had called her that since she was a tiny kit who had listened to her stories for hours at a time. And she had to admit, she still was little. As a matter of fact, she was the smallest cat in camp besides Whisperpaw. Even Icekit and Puddlekit were bigger than her!

"Stories," Puddlekit grunted. "I get to pick the first one. I want to hear about why cats don't have wings."

Morningpaw smiled. She remembered the time Silentpaw and Redpaw had come in from a hunting patrol complaining about the sparrow they had missed. She had still been a kit, and a curious one at that. That very day she had gone to Robinfeather and asked her why cats couldn't fly. If birds could, and cats ate birds, wouldn't it make sense for cats to be able to fly so that they could catch them easier? Robinfeather had told her that she herself had asked the same question when she was a kit. Then she told Morningpaw -Morning_kit_ then- the story she was about to relate once more. The three young cats settled down to listen.

Robinfeather smiled at them benignly, ignoring Puddlekit's rude tone. Not much could upset Robinfeather.

"Well," she began. "A long, long time ago, cats could indeed fly. It made it much easier to hunt birds and sight other prey. With wings, cats were the rulers of the forest. But there was a cat named Frostleaf. He was an arrogant, prideful cat with delusions of grandeur. One day he decided that he was as powerful as StarClan. He told the other cats that StarClan shouldn't have so much control, that if they could only reach the stars then they too could wield StarClan's power. And they believed him. Greed gripped their hearts.

"Frostleaf and a group of other cats started on a journey to the stars. At first StarClan wasn't worried. They figured that their wings would give out and they would have to return to the ground to rest. And that's what happened at first. One by one, cats fell back to the ground. Soon only Frostleaf was left. StarClan warned him to return to land, but he refused. So they had little choice but to strike him down.

"When they took away his wings, he fell all the way back to the earth. He hit so hard that he left a deep indent in the ground. Over time this hole filled in with water and became our lake.

"The story should have ended there, but it didn't. StarClan took away all cats' wings, but Frostleaf's followers were still power-hungry. They turned Frostleaf into a martyr and pledged to continue his quest. Where he fell, before it was filled with water, they began gathering stones and dirt and other objects. They built these into a mountain.

"The group, however, split into factions. Other groups formed and found different places to build their own mountains. Since the original mountain had been started first, it stands to reason that it was higher than the others. It was so high that it threatened to reach the stars themselves. StarClan warned them to stop building, but they refused. So StarClan demolished the mountain.

"When the other factions saw what had happened to their brethren, they stopped building and returned to normal clan life. They soon forgot that they had ever had wings.

"Only the base of the destroyed mountain remained. When the hollow filled with rain, only the base remained above the water. Today it is the island in the lake. The remaining mountains are still visible over there." Robinfeather paused and flicked her tail in the direction of the mountains. "The Tribe lives there now. And that is why cats no longer have wings."

Morningpaw smiled. It might have been a made up tale, but it was still interesting. It was amazing what cats with free time could come up with.

"Who would like to pick next?" asked Robinfeather, obviously happy to have an audience who actually wanted to listen to her stories. Even Puddlekit had been enthralled.

"My turn!" Icekit squeaked excitedly. "I want to hear about Echo!" Robinfeather grinned. Morningpaw knew it was one of her favorite stories.

At that moment, Swallowpaw and her mentor, Laurelleaf, padded into the elders' den.

"Wow, there are a lot of cats in here!" Laurelleaf exclaimed, glancing at Morningpaw and the kits curiously. "I was just sending Swallowpaw in here to see if you needed anything." Swallowpaw grumbled something under her breath and looked mutinous.

"What did she do this time?" Rabbittail asked.

"Scared off every piece of prey in the forest arguing with Rosepaw. I don't understand how none of you apprentices can get along with her. She's so sweet."

"To you," Swallowpaw muttered. Morningpaw wrinkled her nose in disgust. Rosepaw had all the warriors fooled. She was always nice to them, but was a terror to the other apprentices. Only Elmpaw could stand her. Even her sister, Eveningpaw, hated her. Then again, it often seemed like Eveningpaw hated everybody. Morningpaw knew this wasn't true. She just hated that everyone either pitied or resented her because she was half blind. She had told Morningpaw that she could make out fuzzy shapes and colors, but couldn't see very well. This deficiency was made up for by her superior hearing and smelling. She was the best hunter in the clan, even if she couldn't fight well.

"So anyway," Laurelleaf continued. "What are you all doing?"

"I'm telling them stories," Robinfeather replied. "I'm just about to tell the story about Echo." Laurelleaf's eyes widened and she sat down to listen, Swallowpaw's punishment forgotten.

"I love this story! It's so romantic!" she gushed. Morningpaw rolled her eyes. Laurelleaf was sweet, but a hopeless romantic. Robinfeather just smiled again, pleased to have an even bigger audience.

"Echo had once been a clan cat, but she fell in love with a tom from another clan named Tallrock," she began. "They ran away from their clans to be together and turned into rogues. Tallrock kept his warrior name, but Echo changed hers into the one we know her by best. Her warrior name has been lost in history.

"One day Tallrock went to explore a nearby cave. When he didn't return by sunset, Echo got worried. She went after him into the cave. She called and called for him, but the sound was muffled in the dank, dark air. For days she wandered around in the winding passages, continually calling for her lost love. After days of walking, she was filthy, starving, and growing hoarse, but still she called.

"The spirits of the ancient cats, older even then StarClan, took pity on her. They took up her call, so that her cries echoed throughout the caverns. But by then it was too late. It is said that poor Echo still wanders the passages beneath the earth, endlessly searching for her missing mate. The spirits were sorry they had not helped her earlier when their aid could have saved Tallrock, so, to this day, they still echo the words of cats."

There was silence as the cats reflected on the story. Morningpaw sighed. Echo's tale always made her sad.

"So romantic!" Laurelleaf repeated as she left the den absent-mindedly, forgetting to even say goodbye. Swallowpaw shrugged.

"See you later Morningpaw. Maybe we can go hunting or something. I'm just going to stay out of her way, and maybe she'll forget all about my punishment."

"I think she's already forgotten," Morningpaw told her dryly. "Have fun."

Swallowpaw slid out of the elders' den and quickly left camp.

"Would you like to hear a story, dear?" Robinfeather inquired of Morningpaw. She nodded.

"I'd like to hear about the beginning of HeartClan," she announced. Rabbittail and Bramblethicket looked up, suddenly interested.

"Oh good," Rabbittail said happily. "I can even help tell this one!" Bramblethicket snorted, but said nothing. Robinfeather's eyes gleamed with amusement.

"At one time, not all that long ago, there were only four clans - ThunderClan, WindClan, RiverClan, and ShadowClan."

"Yeah, yeah, get on with it," Bramblethicket growled. Robinfeather glanced at him before continuing, unruffled.

"One night StarClan gathered all the leaders and medicine cats together and-"

"And medicine cat apprentices!" Rabbittail interjected. Robinfeather gave a long-suffering sigh.

"And medicine cat apprentices. Bluestar announced that StarClan wanted a fifth clan to be formed-HeartClan. Sagewhisker was the ThunderClan medicine cat apprentice, but she volunteered to join the new clan. Snowdrop was an ambitious ThunderClan warrior. She wanted to be the leader of the new clan, so she dragged her mate, Mousetail, with her to join. She did indeed become leader."

"That's your mom, in case you haven't realized," Bramblethicket told Morningpaw dryly. She grinned. She was used to his bad temper. Robinfeather muttered something under her breath before returning to her story.

"Indeed. In any case, very few cats joined the clan."

"I did!" Rabbittail exclaimed excitedly.

"Yes," Robinfeather said wearily. "You did. And Bramblethicket did. And I did. And some younger cats. _Anyway_ we were a very small clan. StarClan had given us a large territory because they said we would grow big and have many cats. But the other clans wanted their territory back. They worked at steadily reconquering it. There was little we could do when we had so few warriors.

"So we learned to hide."

"Like cowards!" Bramblethicket sneered.

"And what would you have had us do, Bramblethicket? We had no choice. You snuck around just as much as we did." Bramblethicket snorted but stayed silent. "As I was saying," Robinfeather continued, throwing a pointed glare in Bramblethicket's direction, "we had to adapt. We figured out how to use camouflage and shadows to our advantage. We could sneak up on, or hide from, anyone. We didn't win, but we survived.

"We all shared the hunting and fighting techniques of our respective clans, which is why we are extremely good fighters. Perhaps we could have fought back then, but we didn't. We bided our time. When leafbare hit, the other clans ran out of food quickly. HeartClan had managed to hold onto a decent sized piece of territory, so we were not hit as hard as the others. One or two at a time, a few more cats began joining us. Soon we had enough warriors to recover all of our rightful territory.

"Our clan was fractured though. Having cats from all four clans created tension in HeartClan. We were all suspicious of each other. We lived in one camp, but all the ThunderClan cats stayed together, all the WindClan cats stayed together, etcetera. Every cat we saw that wasn't of our original clan was a potential traitor. We were killing ourselves from the inside."

"We still are," Rabbittail added. "Haven't you watched the camp lately? Everyone eats and hunts and talks to cats from their own clan. When there are arguments cats from their clans stand by them, not because they think they're right, but because they used to be from the same clan." Robinfeather sighed again, but not with annoyance this time.

"Yes," she agreed sadly. "The divisions still exist. Snowstar hasn't really even attempted to fix the problem, but I have hope that the new generation can heal the rifts. We didn't have very many cats at first, but a few moons ago our population exploded. We almost have more kits and apprentices than warriors now! Redpaw, Pinepaw, Elmpaw, Silentpaw, Beechpaw, Birchpaw, Firpaw, Eveningpaw, Rosepaw, Nightpaw, Swallowpaw, Mistpaw, Echopaw, Dapplepaw, Turtlepaw, Whisperpaw, Silverpaw, you three. It's strange."

"Yeah," Bramblethicket growled. "It's like each former clan is trying to build up their own army! I don't think any clan has had this many apprentices at one time!"

"We might run out of available mentors at this rate!" chimed in Rabbittail.

"Eveningpaw and Rosepaw are almost warriors. Redpaw, Firpaw, Beechpaw, and Birchpaw too," Morningpaw pointed out.

"Yes, but there's still tons of apprentices," Rabbittail replied. Morningpaw shrugged. She couldn't argue with that. HeartClan had gone from being the smallest to the biggest clan in a few moons. True, nearly half their members were apprentices, but they'd grow up and be warriors soon enough. _And then we'll dominate!_ Morningpaw thought gleefully. _We'll show those clans who rejected us and stole our territory!_

"Morningpaw! Come on, we're going to go train!" Mapleleaf called. Morningpaw sighed. If only she could listen to the elders' stories all day like she had when she was a kit.

"Morningpaw!"

"Coming!" she yelled. "Can you three watch Icekit and Puddlekit?"

"Why do we have to be stuck with them?" Bramblethicket grumbled. Robinfeather nudged him.

"Be nice. Of course we will," she added to Morningpaw. The apprentice nodded and dashed out of the elders' den, mulling over their words.

"Ready?" her mentor asked. "You may not be leader yet, but you will someday, and leaders don't dawdle."

"I'm ready," Morningpaw declared decisively. But inside she was not so sure. She knew her mother was grooming her to be the next leader of HeartClan, and she had accepted it without question until now. But what the elders had said had hit home. She had noticed how former ThunderClan cats had stayed together and the former WindClan cats had stayed together and the former RiverClan cats had stayed together and the former ShadowClan cats had stayed together, but she had never really thought about it before. Now she realized exactly how divided the clan was. _How can I ever hope to bind these different groups together into one cohesive clan? There is so much tearing us apart. Am I really strong enough? Am I really able to be a leader?_

And as she followed Mapleleaf to the training hollow, she felt an emotion that she had never truly felt before.

Fear.


End file.
